Succession Planning – Build the Bench

Every Monday the business section in the local paper has an advertorial where firms list new hires and promotions. When I see those fresh faces and their new titles, I think “are they the next in line?” to take over at their firm?

I have two projects where we discuss the future. After giving them my “incremental improvement vs. vision of the future” lecture, I hear some version of “I’m just not sure there’s anyone on the team that is going to be able to buy us out.”

It’s succession planning for professional service firms. I’m going to toss out a quick thought for you if you’re going through the same internal discussion right now:

Play favorites. 

When it comes to building bench strength, there is a school of thought that you recruit for certain traits and put the group through a professional development program. A rising tide lifts all boats approach that helps identify top performers and help them with the skills they need to be in a position to jump at the chance to buy into the firm and create an opportunity for retirement.

I advocate a different approach. Pick a winner and become a benevolent benefactor. Groom them directly to take over. Hire coaches and consultants to work with them on skill sets they will need and – more importantly – personally help them secure the relationships they will use to facilitate the take over process. Don’t spread that effort out over multiple candidates. Leave some people behind.

The more I learn about our unconscious, hidden brains and explore the differences between happiness and meaning in life, the more I think that the best way to maximize results is by concentrating your effort into a narrow target. When you go through the exercise of looking at junior staff and asking the questions about who to put 100% of your efforts into, you will come to one of two conclusions. You have someone in mind that deserves 100% of your attention or you need to go find someone that fits that role.

How do you identify such a target? Start with your shared values and ability to form a relationship. As a principal in the firm you can do this with more than one prospect. From there you can move into gaining conceptual agreement with them on the future and work on an exact proposal for how succession is going to happen.

It’s a process, not an event. It takes time. Years.

If there’s any controversy it’s going to be here: your best guess on successors is going to be good enough.

Embrace the randomness.

I could go on about industries in growth mode or companies in decline and our inability to comprehend the amazing number of tiny decisions that have to work in concert in order to produce an acceptable result, but I’ll stop here.

If you’re looking at succession planning, build a short bench by picking the winners and actively endorse their future success. Don’t leave it to chance.

Good stuff.